So far, two teams have combined to win four National Titles, as the Women's Golf team is competing for an NAIA National Title this week.
 
Equestrian won the Tournament of Champions Overall Title (for the 10^th consecutive year), the ANRC National Division National Title, and the ANRC Novice Division National Title. Similarly, Women's Bowling won the NAIA Women's Bowling National Championship Title for the second year.
 
Four Artist-Athletes, thus far, reached the pinnacle of their respective sports this year, winning Individual National Titles as the Women's Golf Team and members of the Women's Track & Field Team are competing for titles this week.
 
Equestrian's Celia Cram won the ANRC Individual National Title, while Alex Alston won the IHSA Individual Open Flat National Title. Women's swimmer Sloan Sizemore won the 50-yard freestyle at the NAIA National Championship, while men's swimmer Joel Thatcher won the 500-yard freestyle for the fourth time.
 
Women's Soccer Assistant Coach Sinead Byrne earned the newly titled Rod Echols Assistant Coach of the Year Award. Coach Byrne helped lead her team to an NAIA rank of No. 11 during the season, with a final ranking of No. 12 after boasting a 14-5-1 (5-2-1 SUN) record and an upset win over then-No. 1 Tennessee Southern. Despite a Sun Conference (SUN) Semifinal loss, the women's soccer team earned an at-large bid to the 2022 NAIA Women's Soccer National Championship Tournament for the second-consecutive season.
 
 
The women's soccer team totaled seven SUN All-Conference honors, 16 SUN All-Academic Team members, three NAIA All-Americans, 16 Daktronics NAIA Scholar-Athletes, two Women's Soccer Academic All-America First-Team Members, and one United Soccer Coaches NAIA Women's All-American.
 
For the past five years, Coach Byrne has been a dedicated member of the SCAD Athletics Department, working diligently on improving the department, her team, and herself as she works on her United Soccer Coaches B License.
 
Five Artist-Athletes were named Athletic Director Scholar Athletes of the Year. This award is given to the graduating senior with the highest grade point average (GPA) following the Winter quarter. This year, five artist-athletes have maintained a 4.00 GPA throughout their careers here at SCAD. They are listed below.

• Jessica Murr, Women's Track & Field
• Julia Gralki, Women's Cross Country, Track & Field, Women's Cycling
• Libby LeStage, Equestrian
• Julia Rauch, Women's Soccer
• Emily Elz, Women's Swimming

Another newly named award for this year includes the Jessy Scarpone Champion of Character Award. This award included a special presentation by Carla Elmore, Jessy's Mom.
 
Jessy Scarpone, a former runner/four-time All-American for SCAD, unexpectedly passed away in the summer of 2019. The Athletics Department has renamed the Champion of Character Award to the Jessy Scarpone Champion of Character Award to honor her memory. Jessy truly embodied what it meant to be a Champion of Character, and the department is honored to dedicate this award to her.
 
This Year's Jessy Scarpone Champion of Character is Women's Lacrosse athlete Keagan Plume. Keagan is a Senior who goes above and beyond to put others first and has true integrity. She always does what is right, prides herself on honesty, never cheats a rep, and always does everything 100% to not disservice her team or herself.
 
 
This season, Keagan devised, organized, and planned two charity events for her team. The first was for the Go 4 the Goal Foundation, where teammates purchased $5.00 yellow laces from the foundation, with all the proceeds going to local children fighting cancer, and their families, who need support through the treatments. The second event Keagan organized was two local youth lacrosse clinics to give back to local girls' lacrosse players just starting to learn the game.
 
As a Captain, Keagan organized team carpools so that everyone had a ride to practice, and if things changed, she would go out of her way to pick her teammates up, even if that meant she was late. She created a team calendar of class conflicts each quarter of the year so that 100% of her team could practice together for two hours. Plume organized team socials and bonding opportunities, ensuring that her team would have a close connection for a successful season.
 
Director of Athletics Amanda Workman Haverstick included two special recognitions in this Year's Awards Ceremony.
 
The first was to Claudia Zyskowski, the SCAD Athletics Head Athletic Trainer. Claudia is leaving SCAD at the end of July to pursue a degree as a Physician's Assistant. The Athletics Department is grateful for Claudia's hard work and support of the athletics teams.
 
 
The second special recognition went to Men's Lacrosse Head Coach Scott Linzey. Coach Linzey is SCAD's Vice President of Student Financial Services and Special Initiatives and the head of SCAD Serve.
 
 
Despite having multiple roles on campus, Coach Linzey coached the Men's Lacrosse Team this season. As he will not be returning in the role next year, the 2023 Captains had this to say about his impact:
 
"Coach Linzey came in with no obligation of creating a strong, competitive lacrosse team, yet that is precisely what he has done in just nine months.
 
Out of empathy and love for the game, Coach Linzey was willing to lead this group of young men and dedicate his time and knowledge to making us a better lacrosse team. He has dramatically improved our lacrosse IQ and skill and taught us how to be better men within the current outlook of our society.
 
As Artist-Athletes, everyone has a unique way of learning, understanding, and improving. Coach Linzey supports us as Artists and understands that we have complicated and extensive workloads while motivating us always to improve and disciplining us when necessary. He understands that different players will respond to coaching in various ways.
 
Coach Linzey has been a blessing to SCAD Athletics, and we are forever grateful for the impact he has already made on the [Men's Lacrosse] program."
 
The Strength and Conditioning Head Coach, Justin VanDusen, presented the Strength and Conditioning Artist-Athlete of the Year Award to Daira Moreno from the women's golf team.
 
 
WHEN PRESENTING THIS AWARD, Coach V spoke highly of Daira, stating, "She has shown continued development during training and preparation for her sport. [He] can remember first working with her and them struggling to perform but never giving up. Throughout [Coach V's] time here, he has seen [Daira] improve in training, push herself to improve, and motivate her teammates daily. She may not be the strongest of the star of her team, but her continued effort, contagious motivation, and wonderful personality paved the way for this award."
 
The Paul E Poetter Male and Female Athlete of the Year recognizes the top-performing male and female athletes yearly. Coaches nominate their athletes, and the nominees are whittled down to three finalists. Once the three finalists have been determined, the Athletics Cabinet votes on the winner.
 
This Year's Paul E Poetter Male Athlete of the Year finalists was Men's Cyclist Eugenio Mirafuentes, Men's Tennis Player Danil Ozernoy, and Men's Bowler Julian Salinas.
 
The Paul E Poetter Male Athlete of the Year is Julian Salinas. Julian was a three-time Southern States Athletic Conference (SSAC) Player of the Week, and he was named the SSAC Conference Player of the Year. The Bees won the SSAC Conference Championship, earning the automatic bid to the NAIA National Championships.
 
 
Julian is ranked 13^th in the nation with an average of 214.6 as he won one event and totaled three top-five finishes with seven top-25 finishes this season.
 
Julian was named an NAIA First-Team All-American and an NCBCA All-American Honorable Mention for his season performance.
 
This Year's Paul E Poetter Female Athlete of the Year finalists were Equestrian's Celia Cram, Women's Lacrosse player Clarke Haas, and Women's Cross Country runner Montserrat De Santiago.
 
The Paul E Poetter Female Athlete of the Year is Celia Cram. Celia was named the High Point Rider six times this season and the Reserve High-Point Rider once, in 10 total IHSA Regular Season Shows.
 
During the Tournament of Champions, Celia was the only rider in the history of the tournament to be named the High Medal Rider four times.
 
Celia won three ridden phases by earning an Individual National Title at the ANRC National Championships. She was also the IHSA National Reserve Champion in the Cacchione Cup. Celia was named the IHSA Zones Cacchione Cup Champion (winning both the Flat and Fences Phases) and the Regional Cacchione Cup Champion with a 30-point lead.
 
A hardworking, humble athlete, Celia helped lead her team to three National Championship Titles this season and one Reserve National Championship Title.
 
The Frances Wong Coach of the Year is awarded to a head coach who makes great strides throughout the season. This Year's Frances Wong Coach of the Year is Women's Lacrosse Head Coach Melody Shotwell.
 
 
In her first year at the helm of the SCAD Women's Lacrosse program, Coach Shotwell led her team to a 12-6 record, including a Runner-Up finish at the 2023 NAIA Women's Lacrosse National Championship.
 
The Bees started the season ranked No. 10 in the NAIA with a 1-5 record before going on an 11-game win streak, facilitating a steady rise in the polls to a final rank of No. 5 in the NAIA.
 
This season included upset wins over then-No. 4 Life University and No. 1 Keiser University in the Sun Conference Championship to bring home the title and automatic bid to the 2023 NAIA National Championship.
 
This feat was followed by upset victories while competing at the National Championship. The first was a 16-15 win over No. 4 Cumberlands, followed by a 20-6 upset win over No. 1 Keiser University in the semifinal. SCAD fell 16-15 in overtime against No. 2 Lawrence Tech in the NAIA National Championship Final to earn the Runner-Up finish.
 
The Bees' appearance in the NAIA National Championship Final marks the first time SCAD has advanced to the Championship game since Women's Lacrosse moved from invitational status.
 
This season, the Women's Lacrosse team led the Sun Conference in All-Conference honorees with nine; they totaled three NAIA All-Tournament Team members, four NAIA All-Americans, and eight Daktronics NAIA Scholar-Athletes.
 
The newly minted Team of the Year Award was the year's final award. Every team is nominated for this award, and every team gets a vote on who they believe should be named the Team of the Year.
 
The Women's Lacrosse Team is the 2022-23 Team of the Year.
 
 
The Women's Lacrosse Team compiled the following accolades this season:

• Attended three SCAD Amp Sessions, totaling seven credit hours towards certification.
• They had a new coach.
• They beat two NCAA teams.
• Each member of the team ran 80 miles over Winter Break.
• They volunteered at three youth lacrosse clinics.
• They went from an NAIA rank of No. 10 to No. 5 throughout the season.
• They Upset four NAIA Top-Five teams, including No. 1 Keiser University, twice.
• The Sun Conference Women's Lacrosse Champions
• Runner-Up at the NAIA Women's Lacrosse National Championship, advancing to the Finals for the first time in program history.